1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a taped electronic component.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIGS. 6 to 11 illustrate steps of manufacturing a conventional taped electronic component, with FIG. 6 showing a conventional plate type lead terminal structure. The lead terminal structure, which is manufactured by punching a thin metal plate by a press, comprises a long connecting member 1 and a plurality of lead terminals 2 integrally formed on one side of the connecting member 1 at prescribed intervals.
Each of the lead terminals 2 is integrally provided on its forward end with a pair of holding members 3 and 4, which are separated from each other along the horizontal plane of the plate, as shown in FIG. 6. As clearly understood from FIG. 7, each pair of the holding members 3 and 4 are bent in opposite directions in relation to the plate thickness direction.
The aforementioned lead terminals 2 resiliently hold an electronic component body 5 with the pairs of holding members 3 and 4 as shown in FIG. 8, and are soldered to electrodes 6. The body 5, which is adapted to form a hybrid integrated circuit, a C (capacitor) network, an R (resistor) network or the like, is covered with an insulating coating 7 as shown in FIG. 9 after the body 5 is provided with the terminals 2 as shown in FIG. 8.
Thereafter, the connecting member 1 is separated from the respective terminals 2 so as to provide an independent electronic component A, and the ends of the terminals 2 forming this electronic component A are placed on a long base tape 8 and attached to the tape 8 with an adhesive tape 9 from above. A plurality of such electronic components A are thus fixed onto the base tape 8 at prescribed pitches, to form a taped electronic component.
Feed pins (not shown) are engaged with feed holes 10 provided in the base tape 8 and moved so as to introduce the taped electronic component, manufactured in the aforementioned manner, into an automatic inserter, which in turn automatically inserts the respective electronic components A into printed circuit plates.
In each of the electronic components A, which form the conventional taped electronic component, as hereinabove described, the pairs of holding members 3 and 4, which are provided on the forward end of each lead terminal 2, are separated from each other along the horizontal plane of the plate. Further, the holding members 3 and 4 are bent so as to resiliently hold the body 5. Accordingly, each of the bent holding members 3 and 4 exerts a resilient force on the body 5 based on its resilience that tends to twist the body 5.
Thus, the electronic components A could be distorted with respect to the base tape 8 by the concerted twisting of force from the terminals 2, as shown in FIG. 11, and the degrees of such distortion may vary with the various electronic components A. When the taped electronic component is introduced into an automatic inserter, therefore, such distorted electronic components A may be unsatisfactorily chucked so as to cause imperfect insertion in printed wiring boards, leading to a reduction in insertion efficiency.